Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Addicted to the Internet? Moi?

It's like any other addiction. You think you can quit anytime you want to and by the time you are in trouble, and can't quit, it's too late. I'm there. From the first time that I went online in 1995 with my Mosaic browser and saw what was out there, I was doomed. I saw the potential of the internet from the very first moment. This is big, I thought, as big as the Gutenberg Bible. At a time when print media was laughing all the way to the bank and internet advertising consisted of tiny little banner ads and a few blinking link rings, I knew, deep in my heart that this was going to change everything. Within a year I had my own website: this at a time when most people of my generation didn't even have an email address. I was hooked, but, of course, didn't know it. I posted on bulletin boards and learned a bit of HTML and met a lot of interesting people online in the moments I could spare from job, home, kids and life.

Once I retired and had the leisure to do it, I started blogging and hanging out more on social media sites that were fast replacing chat rooms and bulletin boards. It was all over when I discovered Facebook. I'm only grateful I never got into online gaming and Second Life. I would have been a goner.

Most recently, I have become enamored of Google+ and can't say enough good things about it. The one problem is, I go on just to check out my notifications and BAM I visit a few communities, post a couple of comments and look up and it is three hours later..... where did the time go? I've been down this road before.

Last year I got an iPhone which was like an alcoholic getting a hip flask..... the internet went with me wherever I went. I was one of those people you hate who takes out their phone on any pretext and starts looking things up or responding to texts.

So, I have set up a schedule for myself. I've got a timer on my laptop and I don't take my iPHone with me when I go out(well I TRY not to). I decided to keep my old landline and am using it for phone calls as much as I can. I have made a commitment to swim and go to the gym a couple of times a week and I hope all this brings me out of cyberspace and back into the real world.

2 comments:

I totally get it. I've replaced it to some extent with novels and frequent trips to the library, which I'm enjoying way more than I expected. Started writing one (I probably won't finish) and that also keeps me offline and is fun. But the worst substitute addiction for me is sugar. If I don't eat any, I don't want it. Eat one damn cookie and I'm off to the races....

Ahhh thanks my friend and fellow traveler. You're writing a novel? That's impressive, especially when compared to me walking on the treadmill and swimming at the Y:-) I hear you on the sugar. Cookies are my drug of choice too. Ahhh well, like they say, " one day at a time"